Habibie ready 'to share power' with Megawati

Habibie ready 'to share power' with Megawati

JAKARTA (JP): A senior aide to President B.J. Habibie said on
Saturday that his boss was ready to share power with the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan)
chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Jimly Assidiqie, Habibie's close friend and advisor, confirmed
the President was ready to form a kind of coalition government
with Megawati, whose party is leading in provisional poll
results.

According to Jimly, the vice president's assistant for
people's welfare and poverty alleviation, the President realized
her party should be intensively involved in determining the
country's next leader.

"I think he is ready ... he has to be prepared," said the
professor of law in a discussion with journalists at Merdeka
Selatan on Saturday.

Megawati is the only leader of the five major political
leaders who has not turned up on invitation from Habibie to meet
him at his private residence in South Jakarta.

He has met twice with National Awakening Party (PKB) founder
Abdurrahman Wahid, Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung, National
Mandate Party (PAN) leader Amien Rais and United Development
Party (PPP) chairman Hamzah Haz.

"The first purpose of the meetings is to reduce tension,
secondly to harmonize a perception in preventing the unexpected
as much as possible in the presidential elections," Jimly said.

Sources at the palace agree with observations that Habibie has
a considerable chance of being reelected given the opposition
toward Megawati.

A government source said should this happen, Habibie would
likely offer Megawati the position of vice president.

Despite having become a symbol of opposition to the
government, PDI Perjuangan is seen by many as having similarities
to Golkar.

While parties like PAN have questioned PDI Perjuangan's
position on ending the dual role of the military and making
changes to the 1945 Constitution, its noncommitment on the
questions so far has been taken to mean that it takes a similar
stance to Golkar on such matters.

Jimly hoped Megawati would take new initiatives so a dialog
among major political party leaders would create a conducive
atmosphere in the society, including among their supporters.

"Whoever would be elected as the next president, the
president-elect has to consider accommodating all groups who got
major votes in the elections," he said.(prb)